


Non Ducor, Duco

by Faerie_of_the_Moonlight



Series: Memento Mori [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, It's iffy, M/M, Minor Character Death, Near Death Experiences, but not really?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 05:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faerie_of_the_Moonlight/pseuds/Faerie_of_the_Moonlight
Summary: Arthur is a demon born to a mediocre family in Hell. His only friend Aleksandr has always worried over his safety and looked out for him. After graduating from school, they're always paired up together for jobs. Arthur does the work and Aleksandr communicates the orders. When they are finally given a chance at a more important job, it goes horribly wrong. But sometimes, things aren't always random chance. Sometimes, the higher ups decide to play games for their own amusement.(Russia has an alternative name (Aleksandr). Ivan is just too common and generic for me.)This is a prologue for Chapter 14: Ominous Fate of my Hetalia Ficlets work.





	Non Ducor, Duco

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia
> 
> This is a dark story. Read the tags and continue with that knowledge. Nothing actually happens in this story, but there are implications to some fucked up shit.
> 
> Also, this may offend you (possibly?) if you're religious. I don't mean to offend anyone, but some not-so-nice things are said about the Catholic church.

Hell was… a human term. It could be argued that Hell existed, but not as some evil, fiery place. It didn’t used to be something that they called it, but it stuck after so many centuries. Just like how Heaven stuck for the angels. Of course, the angels were thrilled to be given praise from the humans.

The humans seemed to think that demons were evil by nature and got off by making everyone’s lives miserable. It was true that many demons had the ability to sway the actions of people and influence their emotions. But it wasn’t to the extent that mythology and religion claimed.

Demons were as evil as humans. They had their personal morals which varied between everyone. It might have been more common for demons to have looser morals, but they still didn’t go out to ruin lives. For the most part. It all depended on the demon and what their job was.

Every demon (and every angel) was born with a role. It was almost always decided by their natural abilities, but sometimes the role would change as they proved themselves. It all depended on how the Archdemon felt about the person. The best way to get a promotion was to suck up to the Archdemon. It was common enough behavior that it was considered socially acceptable.

For the Angels, it was all about social status and wealth. Angels acted high-and-mighty from the way the humans viewed them as the saviors of the world. They treated demons like the scum of the Earth, even though they had the same abilities. (With the exception of certain high-powered people.) The only difference was in appearance and that idiotic bible.

Arthur was born to a nobody family in hell. His father pushed paper and drugs while his mother taught various languages and sold her body. The important aspect of his parents was that his father handled some of the endless paperwork in a menial job in Hell while he sold drugs in the human world. His mother taught English, French, Spanish, and Russian in Hell and then went to the human world to tempt married men out of their money.

Arthur had four older brothers who all had boring jobs in Hell. None of them were able to go to the human world because they simply didn’t have the abilities to. There was a certain amount of magic required in both travelling to and living in the human world. Not to mention hiding their true appearance.

Demons were born with black wings (feathered or smooth) as well as either horns or a tail. Some demons had other features or attributes that made them stand out. Sharp teeth, permanently elongated nails (claws), bizarre hair colors… The possibilities were seemingly endless.

Arthur considered himself pretty normal even as a young child. Blonde hair, green eyes. Freckles all over his cheeks and nose. Smooth black wings and small black horns. And a thin tail to finish it all off. As a child, he was curious and _loved_ getting into mischief.

Normal demon children showed their abilities at 13. Arthur’s, though, developed when he was seven. When they brought him to the then Archdemon, they were told that he had stronger abilities. The problem was that Arthur didn’t fall into the normal classifications.

He could manipulate people spectacularly, but he could also manipulate matter and cast countless illusions. Of course, this only led to him getting into even more trouble, but no one was really concerned other than the teachers he terrorized. Well, his parents never really… appreciated him, but he dealt with it. That kind of treatment was… normal among demons, wasn’t it?

Arthur hated going to school. People always gave him strange looks and steered away from him. It didn’t change any as he got older. If anything, it got worse. The only person who would talk to him was Aleksandr. They were both the outsiders of the school.

Aleksandr was raised by his older sister and had apparently never met his parents. Or he didn’t remember them, anyway. Arthur didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, but it didn’t really matter. It was none of his business.

“Another bruise?” Aleksandr sighed as he greeted Arthur the first morning of the school year. “You’re thinner, too.”

“It’s fine,” he yawned. “Nothing new.” He had dark circles under his eyes too, but Aleksandr chose not to mention that. “Let’s just get this over with, hm?”

Being friends with Arthur was… hard. He was old enough now to understand that his parents’ treatment of him was _not_ normal. (Or at least Aleksandr hoped so at 16. He couldn’t be that naive.) But there wasn’t anything Aleksandr could do. It was pretty obvious that his parents were horrible to him and the teachers never did anything.

They were eating lunch behind the school when Arthur shocked Aleksandr. “So… Don’t get surprised if I get… taken out of school.”

“Why…? What happened…?” Aleksandr asked with dread pooling. Nothing good could come of this conversation.

“My parents are dead.”

“You…”

“I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that… they got what they deserved,” Arthur stated as he took a drink of coffee. It was no secret how his parents treated him. People whispered about him and what his home life was. But the thing was, no one _really_ knew. Not even Aleksandr. Only his family knew.

No outsiders saw the beatings. No one knew that Arthur rarely ate at home; only enough to live. They didn’t know he slept in a closet for most of his childhood and then on the hard floor of the basement for the rest of it. They didn’t know that Arthur’s father wasn’t his birth father and that he had suffered for that for his entire life.

Some of it came out a month later when Arthur was taken out of school for questioning. But not everything. The investigators respected his privacy in that they didn’t release everything. They didn’t make all of the abuse public.

Oddly, Arthur considered the worst part of the situation the psych doctor he had to see. It wasn’t fun to have to talk to some shrink about his childhood. What was the point of talking to some stranger?

Living with Aleksandr and his sister was a lot better for Arthur than some doctor ever would be. Especially once he did enough in school to be able to finish early. The sooner he got out of school, the sooner he could start working and leave his family behind.

 

Most demons had a job in hell and a job in the human world. Arthur was… different. He didn’t get along well with other demons except for Aleksandr’s family. So they only ever gave him jobs in the human world. He was considered a… freelance demon. He did whatever the Archdemon told him to and that was that.

He loved it. There was something freeing about getting out of hell. It was as though he really was getting away from his family and the nightmare he went through. It was a fresh start and everything that he wanted.

Admittedly, though, sometimes the jobs were _really_ boring. What fun was it to sit on the awning of a church and mark down the easier to influence? None. It was indescribably boring to write down aura patterns. Every one might have been unique, but that didn’t make it any more exciting.

Surely there were better things he could’ve been doing? Something better than keeping tracks of marks for the trainees. They only ran about every criminal organization on the globe. There was always something more productive to be doing.

There were also orphanages and charities. Militia that were opposing a dictatorship set up by the angels. Demons and angels had good and bad influences on the world. The job just depended on the person’s personality and morals.

Arthur was an oddity. He could be lenient with his morals, but then had hard lines. He refused to be associated with child exploitation or labor. Human trafficking was also out of the question. He didn’t mind helping organize assassinations or rebellions, but there were just some things he couldn’t stomach. Or he wouldn’t mind doing those things if he was ever given a chance.

The menial jobs were getting old. There was only one good thing about them.

“Don’t get too bored and get into trouble. There’s a reason you’re doing this stuff,” Aleksandr said from where he was sitting on the roof. His wings were considerably larger, as were his horns. But that was expected. Arthur was a lot shorter than Aleksandr―and smaller in build as well. It was a good thing Aleksandr was so good with illusions. Otherwise, he would stick out like a sore thumb.

“Yes, yes, I know. It doesn’t make it any more fun, though,” Arthur sighed as he traced yet another aura. “I’m sure they can find something better for me to do.”

“Sure, but who else do they have that could do this? Not many demons or angels can see auras,” Aleksandr reminded him.

“I know,” Arthur sighed.

“Fairy Eyes,” they called his ability. One in five hundred thousand demons had the ability. And considering Hell never had a population higher than 8 million, that wasn’t a lot of people. Especially considering the statistic was outdated and inaccurate. Arthur was always told that it overestimated the people with his ability.

“You don’t always act like it.”

“I don’t see what’s so special,” Arthur muttered. “So I can see auras. Big deal. What use is it?”

Aleksandr sighed. Sometimes, he wondered if Arthur was just naturally spacey or if it was an act. Then again, they were only 18. And Aleksandr had had better schooling. “Well… Everyone is different, but I’m sure there’s something more to it than you think.”

“So everyone tells me.” Arthur dropped the subject and kept watching the crowd. When he was a kid, it used to give him migraines to watch so many people at once. After practicing with it so much, it was nothing for him anymore. It was no different than people-watching without using the magic.

As the crowd was starting to whittle down, Arthur saw something… interesting. “Ah. There’s an angel in the crowd.”

Aleksandr cursed in Russian before leaning over the ledge. “Which one?”

“The brunette with the glasses. He’s a Principality*. What should we do?” Arthur asked.

Arthur’s role was to follow the orders given by the Archdemon; Aleksandr’s role was to keep an eye on Arthur, but also to hand out those orders. He had a direct connection to the Archdemon through a ring he made with his thumb and forefinger. After a couple moment, he sighed and relayed the message to Arthur. “Our―or, rather, your actual job is to assassinate the angel.”

“Eh?” Arthur gave Aleksandr a strange look. “Why?”

“He’s… a big figure in Austria. As corrupt as possible. Bribes, murders, framing innocent people… The list goes on,” Aleksandr sighed. “We’d be doing the country a favor.”

“I guess this is a test or something then?” Arthur asked with a sigh. “Fine. If they want him dead, then he’ll be dead. Any restrictions?”

“Not in the open. We should follow him to a more secluded area.”

“Right.”

It wasn’t easy to tail an angel. They were more aware of their surroundings than normal humans,  they could see demons through the glamours they set up, and they were fucking paranoid. If not for the lack of concern or fear tinting the angel’s aura, Arthur would’ve thought they’d been spotted.

Three hours of stalking later, the angel finally went back to his home. The “home” was a fucking mansion. It made Arthur want to puke, considering how many homeless people they had passed. That kind of money was wasteful. Especially for an angel who had no attachment to the human world.

Fortunately, the “house” was on the edge of the city. There were no homes around and very little staff people about. A fairly simple execution if there ever had been such a thing.

Aleksandr wasn’t comfortable with letting Arthur do it by himself. The problem was, his orders were to not get involved. It was a test for Arthur. If he could handle it by himself, he would be given more important jobs. If not, then he would be set back a few steps. The Archdemon seemed to think that he was ready. Aleksandr disagreed. He didn’t like Arthur being put on killing jobs. Not after what he went through just a few years ago.

If nothing else, Arthur had the element of surprise. That only went so far, though, when dealing with angels. A human would’ve been dead instantly. But with a Principality angel, Arthur only nicked the man’s shoulder when he flew by, knife in hand.

“A demon? I suppose your Archdemon must be getting bored if he’s sending children after me now,” the angel sighed. “Don’t you have something better to do than waste my time?”

“You know, not really.” Arthur had fought angels before. He knew not to get cocky or waste time listening to them. Angels were manipulators. They could weave magic into their words better than any demon. It was how they ended up with such a loyal cult as Arthur called it.

It wasn’t long before Arthur realized that, despite his ranking, the angel didn’t have a lot of experience fighting. Yes, he was very skilled with his magic, but he wasn’t used to applying it in combat. That made him an easy target.

The fight was over in a matter of minutes. Arthur had a tendency to play around in fights, but that time he was eager to get it over with. The angel disgusted him and Arthur had no problem with hesitation when he finally got the knife in his throat.

“Well… That was anticlimactic,” Arthur sighed.

“Probably for the best,” Aleksandr said. “I took care of the witnesses―paid them off and told them where to go for new jobs. Are you ready?”

Arthur plucked a feather off of the dead angel’s now visible wings. “Now that I have proof, sure am. Let’s hurry back. They’re going to get all their feathers in a ruffle over this.”

“Right… We should go directly to the Gate, then, and report in.”

Right when they were taking off, though, Arthur felt a horrible pain and collapsed to the ground. To his shock, he was bleeding from his chest, though there was no apparent reason for the wound. It was burning and excruciating. He barely recognized Aleksandr calling out to him before he passed out.

 

Arthur woke up in a soft bed. His mind was in a haze and he couldn’t open his eyes. He could hear the conversation around him, but he couldn’t wrap his head around the context. One voice was Aleksandr. The other… sounded like the Archdemon.

“You knew, didn’t you?! That there were Seraphim* there!” Aleksandr said to the Archdemon. Even though he was clearly accusing the man of… something, Arthur wasn’t processing it.

“I would be careful with the tone you take, boy. What I knew or didn’t knew meant nothing for your job. You are supposed to survey the area before going after your target.”

“Bullshit! Rookies are _never_ sent to an area with Seraphim! Because you always know! What was the point?? Did you want Arthur to get killed??”

The argument faded from Arthur’s mind as he passed out again. But he didn’t… really pass out. It was like a half-awake, half-asleep state. He couldn’t hear or see anything, but he felt that he was laying in a bed still. Somehow his brain supplied him to the answer to his condition. Solis Fever. A condition that demons who survive an attack by a Seraphim developed. It had a survival rate of .02%

Arthur could’ve laughed. He survived his parents’ abuse only to die at the hands of some unknown angel. The Sisters of Fate* really hated him, it seemed.

 

It was shocking for Arthur to wake up again. He barely remembered the first time, but his head was actually clear and able to absorb his surroundings. He was not in a hospital like he would’ve thought. Instead, he was actually in his own room.

His entire body ached and was sore from the Fever. He sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position. He could _feel_ the scar the Seraphim’s arrow had left on his chest and back. He wasn’t sure how he knew what the weapon had been, but he didn’t question it. There were somethings that he just… knew. (Anya liked to say that he was… clairvoyant, but that was a ludicrous idea.)

“You’re awake…” Aleksandr sighed. There was so much relief in his voice, it made Arthur smile.

“Somehow… So… how long have been out and what did I miss?”

It was exactly like Arthur to jump right back into business. Aleksandr had a lot to tell him, though. Things were changing in Hell. There were parts of the conversation that made Aleksandr sick to his stomach, but there was nothing he could do about it.

After catching up with Aleksandr for probably a good two hours, Arthur was called on by the Archdemon. Nothing good ever came of such a thing―especially after what Aleksandr told him. But Arthur was the master of hiding his fear and going forward with an impassive mask.

The Archdemon’s quarters were overly lavish and, frankly, disgusting. Arthur always preferred minimalism. Or at least modesty. What was to be gained from this grandstanding, he wondered? Rather than voice his disgust aloud, he greeted the Archdemon appropriately. “You called for me, sir?”

“Yes, yes,” the man said with a smile. That was wrong. The Archdemon had never smiled at Arthur before. “You’re feeling better, clearly.”

“Yes, sir. If I may… what was the reason you called on me?” Arthur asked. It was always risky to speak out of turn, but… he wanted to know.

“Well… It’s come to my attention that you’ve not been… satisfied with the jobs I’ve given you,” he started. Arthur kept from wincing and remained silent. “So you’re clearly… an ambitious person. Along those lines, I have an offer for you.”

Considering that the Archdemon had slowly walked closer to Arthur and now had a hand tilting his chin up, it wasn’t hard to guess the “offer.” It was hard not to puke on the man. Granted, he was considered attractive and wasn’t… horrendously older than Arthur (a good 7 years), but it still made him sick. It was a power play.

Technically, Arthur could refuse and walk away unharmed and just as he was before. Other people certainly had. But… Arthur thought back to his conversation with Aleksandr. There were certainly ways to use this… offer to their favor. Arthur would just have to throw away his pride.

He could feel his dignity fading as he nodded to the Archdemon. Sometimes, good could come of suffering. It was just a matter of how long Arthur would have to go through it before that good came about.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah... The Archdemon is slimy as shit. I don't like making villains out of the Hetalia characters because I have a hard time imagining any of them that cruel. So the Archdemon is just an unnamed asshole.
> 
> (And I totally killed Austria off. Not sorry about that at all.)
> 
> *Principality is the 3rd rank of angels from the bottom.
> 
> *Seraphim are the highest ranking angels.
> 
> *The Sisters of Fate are three sisters from Greek and Roman mythology that created people's fates and destinies.


End file.
